4 benefits of crying • Rainbows 🌈 • Hug someone

  1. 4 benefits of crying
  2. Rainbows 🌈 are actually circles (VIDEO)
  3. Go hug someone

I spent a week in Algonquin.

  • Lots of nature
  • Few wild-life close-encounters (scroll for picture)
  • Intermittent Internet connectivity

When I came back I saw

  • Record-breaking gas price (more than I ever paid in Canada)
  • Extreme FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) in the market
  • 10% higher bubble tea price in my go-to store (hit me where it hurts)

What else did I miss?

Thing 1 - 4 benefits of crying

So you had a hard week. Maybe you cried. Maybe you didn't but should've. Here's why:

1. The obvious benefits (that you already know)

  • Basal tears lubricate and nourish your eyes and act as a barrier of protection to the cornea
  • Reflex tears are the ones you cry when you need to clear harmful irritants or wash away an eyelash that didn't know its place

Those are not the ones you cry when your portfolio is down 20% or when your favorite show is canceled.

Emotional tears have a different composition than the other two types, which leads us to...

2. Relieve stress

Emotional tears can have increased levels of chemicals built up in the body from stress - prolactin, potassium, manganese, leu-enkephalin, and adrenocorticotropic hormones.

A.k.a. emotional tears remove these chemicals from your body.

This regulates stress levels in your body and helps bring you to a more balanced state.

3. Signal vulnerability

It gives you an opportunity for bonding, attachment, and authenticity.

Tears can reduce aggression while increasing unity and sympathy.

4. Increase trust and empathy

If you cry in public, that can be embarrassing. And embarrassment leads to trust. Can't make this stuff up.

Now that you're ready to start crying for every little thing - if you're crying too often or too much, it could be depression, anxiety, etc.

So... Cry in moderation?

(source 1, source 2, source 3)

Thing 2 - Rainbows 🌈 are actually circles (VIDEO)

And that's why you can't find the pot of gold. In case you're still looking.

See full video in all its glory.

Thing 3 - Go hug someone

The last stars will die out 120 trillion years from now, followed by 10¹⁰⁶ years of just black holes.
Condensed, that's like universe starting with 1 second of stars and then a billion billion billion billion billion billion billion years of just black holes.
Stars are basically the immediate after-effect of the Big Bang. A one-second sizzle of brightness before settling into eternal darkness.
We live in that one bright second.
- Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy)

Tim is great at putting complex topics into words that make them relatable.

Time for the picture I promised

Say "hi" to my new birb friend - yes, that's my hand

And now I'm crying tears of joy, for another 3-in-3 issue is on the way to your inbox. Until next week...

Cheers, Zvonimir